Beaver Springs Dragway – When you see “The Relic” pulling up to the line, you see a car that is true to the look of old-school drag racing. It’s elegant in its’ simple look, the clean black paint, the simple, yet eye-catching name on the door. Just something about the smokey burnouts and hard launches that make it a pleasure to watch. But this story isn’t about the car.

There are many ways to enjoy attending a drag race. I listened to a guy last week saying how he found watching drag racing to be a relaxing experience. I’ve watched fans betting a dollar-a-run for their enjoyment. Enjoying the race from the driver’s seat is a different experience. And then there’s Scott Hasko who gets his drag racing fix not only from the driver’s seat, but also in his pit area as well.

It’s a scene that plays out every year at the Nostalgia Nationals at Beaver Springs Dragway, and after observing what goes on at his pit area for years, I figured since he had just won the race, it would be a good time to ask him about it. According to Scott, “I like this race more than any other race and I think it’s because all my friends are here. How many pictures have you taken [of us] in the winner’s circle here? It’s because everybody’s here.”

“It started with Mike. Mike and I met in college and became close friends. In 2002, 2003, we used to go out to Ohio. Mike and his oldest son, Johnny and my dad, we used to race out there at the Gasser Reunion, then we moved it to here (Beaver Springs Dragway). He (Mike) moved from Rochester to Atlanta, and he started driving up, sadly Johnny, a few years ago, passed away from cancer.”

Johnny had so much fun at that first race that he was probably the catalyst behind the decision to make it an annual event for them. Scott allowed him to help with the car and even let him make a pass in it when he was old enough, much to the delight of everyone involved. Losing Johnny to cancer left a profound effect on all of them. Scott shared that, “Johnny is still present. Mike gave me a cross on a chain and it contains a little bit of his ashes. It resides in the car, always. It’ll never be removed.”

Scott started listing off who now makes the annual trip to this race and, by extension, to his pit area. “Now Mike, and his other son, Mike Jr. comes. Another old friend Glenn comes with his son Dylan. An old coworker, Ric and his wife Bet started coming a few years ago. Then there’s my son, Cam, and his friends (Pat and Coop) sometimes come. Now we’ve got about 12 or 13 people showing up just at this race.” At this point Hasko starts laughing, “Can’t lose this race because you’ve got all the people here, right? The pressure’s on! We’ve won here a few times. It’s fun, I’ve really enjoyed it. We’ve had some good drag races, really close ones.”

About this time, Bruce Deming of the East Coast Gassers showed up and presented Scott with his Win Sticker for the race, to which he exclaims happily, “Ah, another one! I love getting these! These are intimidation factor. When you pull up to the line and the whole side of your car’s got win stickers the other guy goes, ‘uh-oh.’ ”

When I told Scott this story was not going to be about the car, but instead about his gathering of friends, he replied, “It’s a much more important story than the car. It’s almost like the racing gets in the way with all my friends here. If something breaks, I’d be perfectly happy and say ‘we’ll sit here and hang out for once.’ It’s all about being with friends.”

At that moment, Scott’s wife, Mary, joined us. With a big smile on his face, Scott announced, “Here’s my crew chief! She picks all my dial-ins! When she started doing that, I started winning races. I don’t know what I’m doing, I just steer!”

Scott’s crew chief not only excels at dial-ins, she’s also an expert with a paint brush. And I don’t mean house painting, either. Mary is an accomplished artist and has done some incredible portraits of Scott’s cars. If you’d like her to paint a portrait of your car, give her a shout (but I doubt she’ll offer to help with your dial-in).

Just hanging around this pit among all these friends having a good time enjoying each other’s company, gives you an idea of all that’s right in drag racing. The cars are important, but not even close to the friends you make and the family experience at the track. That’s something Scott Hasko has totally figured out.